Writer // Shane Allen
In the middle of his set he performed Slum Village’s timeless classic Fall in Love. A heart felt ballad with production from legendary beat maker J Dilla that has not aged a bit since its release. Also a personal favorite of mine, the moment they started playing, I realized how this is probably one of the only places on earth you’d be able to hear a live band play this song.
It also reminded me of this amazing concert.
This was the Suite For Ma Dukes. A tribute concert held in the name of J Dilla where musical director and arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and his 60 piece orchestra performed 16 Dilla songs to a live audience. Something I’m sure Dilla himself never would have expected.
For those who don’t know, J Dilla, holds a sacred place in hip hop as one of the most influential producers in the genre. Widely regarded as one of the greats, J Dilla has worked with and produced some o the best songs of artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Mariah Carey, Mos Def, D’Angelo etc. The list goes on.
J Dilla passed away in from the rare disease of lupus. While practically on his death bed in 2006, he worked on his final album Donuts. One of the greatest instrumental hip hop albums ever made, Donuts is an audio collage of samples and grooves, hypnotic and an insightful look into to the mind frame of a man facing his own mortality
Its spooky man. So to see his music transformed to something that’s such at a grand scale is pretty beautiful. Something as small as a homemade hip hop beat, can actually have the same impact and magic of a symphony performed by a 60 piece orchestra. It puts it into a context that makes you realize the vast potential and unhinged limits of what hip-hop can be.
It’s called the Suite For Ma Dukes because that’s what Dilla always called his mother, who he always made sure to show love to in his music. She is present at the concert along with a few other legendary hip hop figures such as The Alchemist, House Shoes, Madlib, J-roc and more. It really seemed like a pretty magical night. So many people gathered to celebrate the life and art of someone in a completely different setting than where’d you normally would appreciate it.
One of the best songs they performed was Stakes is Hight by De la Soul, with Talib Kweli rapping one of the verses. He did such a good job performing this over the entire symphony, so when we saw him live at the Brooklyn Bowl performing Fall in Love, it was a pleasant surprise that him and his band delivered on.
If you haven’t watched the two performances, please do so. Beautiful music.
